"Kirk's First Season"

By HSP Member, Kirk

Here is a quick recap of my first year with HSP

After joining HSP earlier this year, I wasted no time scheduling my first hunt, an archery hunt for turkey in Kansas the first week of April. Lots of turkeys made for a great hunt, and even though the gobblers were "henned up," I was able to harvest an adult tom the second day of our hunt.

Fast forward to November (my favorite month of year), and it was time to head to Northern Missouri, an almost 5 hr trip from my home in the Southeastern part of the state to the farm that we had reserved for the 2008 rifle season.

Opening day was cold and very windy, making for a tough sit, and it was not until late that evening that I finally seen my first deer of the day, but that deer was worth the wait. I saw him coming across the neighbors field to the west. Lucky for me, rather than him heading into the thick stuff like I thought he would, he crossed the fence into my field and gave me a good broadside shot at about 150 yards. He had 11 points and a 19 inch inside spread.

Only 6 days later I was in my stand for the opening morning of the [STATE REMOVED] shotgun season. Man were the deer moving! Once again it was very cold, but the day seemed to fly by because of all the action. At about 3 P.M., a nice buck came off of the ridge behind me and made his way out of the brush enough to give me a good shot. He was a beautiful 8 pointer with great mass and also had a 19 inch inside spread.